Liberty CounselNEWS RELEASE

President
Bush Announces His Position on
Stem Cell Research and Expected VetoMathew Staver invited to the White House for today's important
announcement

Washington,
D.C. - Today President George W. Bush will make a public statement
outlining his position regarding stem cell research and he will specifically
address each of the three stem cell research bills pending in the
U.S. Senate, including his anticipated veto of one of them. President
Bush invited Mathew Staver to attend today's announcement in the East
Room of the White House. Staver is the Founder and Chairman of Liberty
Counsel and the Interim Dean of Liberty University School of Law.

The
President strongly supports passage of S. 2754, known as the "Alternative
Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapies Enhancement Act," and S. 3504,
the "Fetus Farming Prohibition Act of 2006." However,
President Bush strongly opposes H.R. 810, Stem Cell Research Enhancement
Act, which was passed late yesterday afternoon. He has promised to
veto this bill.

S.
2754 is designed to aid research into techniques of deriving Pluripotent
stem cells without harming or destroying human embryos. Several techniques
are being explored by researchers and significant advances have been
made. Should these efforts succeed, it would be possible for scientists
to investigate the potential of cells like those derived from embryos
without using techniques that raise moral concerns by destroying human
embryos.

S.
3504 prohibits the solicitation or acceptance of tissue from human
fetuses gestated and aborted solely for research purposes. This bill
takes an important step toward establishing the principle that scientific
research must always respect the matchless value of every human life.
Key moral boundaries must be set now against this and further abuses.

H.R.
810 is a bill that would compel all American taxpayers to pay for
research that relies on the intentional destruction of human embryos
for the derivation of stem cells, overturning the President's
policy that funds research without promoting such ongoing destruction.
Yesterday, the Senate passed this bill by a vote of 63-37. The President
is committed to vetoing this bill. This bill will become the first
veto during the President's tenure thus far.

Staver
commented: "President Bush has taken a principled stand that
promotes science while respecting the sanctity of human life. Science
and morality are not enemies. While we must find ways to cure disease
and save lives, we must never devalue human life in the process. Our
first commitment must be to life, because without the right to life,
all other rights are illusory. Some people who support embryonic stem
cell research are well-meaning and we must be sympathetic to their
emotional pleas, but the fact is we do not have to sacrifice moral
principles to advance stem cell research. There is far more promise
in adult stem cell research than in embryonic stem cell research.
The former does not destroy life while the latter does."